Greek debt crisis: In Athens, scavenging from bins has become a way to survive

``Many of the new underclass bring the same disciplined routine to scraping a living as they did to the world of work. Mr Polonos, who lives alone, spends eight hours a day scouring the streets, and is now well-versed in the best places to hunt and in the prices of Athens' skid-row economy. A bundle of discarded copper wire will earn him 50 cents (35p) a kilo from a scrap merchant, for example, while 70 aluminium cans can fetch €1.5. "On an average day I can maybe make five or ten euros," he said.''